"No free thought without Truth"

Alenjandro Bermudez ties Pope Benedict's message to Catholic youth with his earlier address to U.S. Catholic educators:

Some of my fellow bloggers have returned to the subject of the Pope’s meeting with the presidents of 200 plus Catholic colleges and universities earlier this week. They justly argue that Benedict was not capable of defining with precision how to reconcile fidelity to the Magisterium with the great value of academic freedom.

It seems that tonight, at the youth rally in Yonkers, the Pope himself found it necessary to go back to the argument too.

Speaking about the duty to expose youth to the truth, Benedict said before the cheering crowd that “the manipulation of truth distorts our perception of reality, and tarnishes our imagination and aspirations,” and that it is no surprise “that numerous individuals and groups vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum. Yet freedom is a delicate value.”

Benedict also called on the young people to notice “how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person.”

And then he asked: “What purpose has a ‘freedom’ which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life?”

And he closed the argument: “truth is not an imposition.”

In short, to the Pope’s mind, intellectual freedom is not a value in itself. ... (Read More)

Patrick Reilly strikes a similar note in his explication of Benedict's CUA address ("A Great Day for Catholic Higher Education" InsideCatholic.com April 18, 2008):

Academic freedom must be tied to faith:"[A]ny appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission . . . ."

Translation: The "Queer Film Festival" and handing out condoms do not fall under academic freedom.

Students must receive authentic Catholic teachings: Colleges have the duty to "ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity . . . ."

Translation: Three credits in Wiccan Studies is not a substitute for a required Catholic Theology course. Oh, and that Catholic Theology course must teach authentic Catholicism (for reference, please see the Catechism).

Pope Benedict's Address to Catholic Educators at Catholic University of America (CUA)

What's Happening Today: Thursday, April 17
5:00 p.m. - Address to Catholic Educators at The Catholic University of America (CUA)
NOTE: This post will be updated as more information becomes available on this topic.

The Catholic University of America is the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is the only papally chartered university in the United States and the only institution of higher learning sponsored by the nation’s bishops. Pope John Paul II came to CUA on October 7, 1979, a year after he had become pontiff.

• 5:00 p.m. - Arrival and welcome via motorcade at east side of Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the CUA board of trustees, Father David O’Connell, CM, president of CUA will welcome the Pope. Approximately, 4,000 CUA students, faculty and staff will greet the Holy Father outside.
• 5:15 p.m. - Pope Benedict XVI enters the hall. In the hall: 200 presidents of Catholic universities and colleges in the U.S., 195 directors or superintendents responsible for Catholic education (elementary and secondary schools) in each of the archdioceses or dioceses of the U.S., Board of trustees of CUA and selected administrators and representatives of CUA will greet Pope Benedict XVI. Father O’Connell will introduce 10 individuals to the Pope and then the Pope will give an address.
• 6:15 p.m. - Departure - The Pope will enter the popemobile on the east (lower) side of the Przbyla Center and move through the campus of the Catholic University of America.

Catholic University of America's report:

Before a packed audience of more than 400 Catholic educators gathered at The Catholic University of America, Pope Benedict XVI greeted his audience as “bearers of wisdom,” invoking the prophet Isaiah’s words as the opening for his speech: “How beautiful are the footsteps of those who bring good news.”

Indeed, the Holy Father stressed education’s integral place in the Church’s mission to proclaim the Good News, making the link between reason and faith an integral part of his address. Stressing the high expectations society places on Catholic educators, Pope Benedict XVI told the audience that such expectation “places upon you a responsibility and offers an opportunity.”

[...]

The pope spoke of “the difficulty or reluctance many people have today in entrusting themselves to God,” especially the younger generation. Thus, he told the audience, “A particular responsibility for each of you, and your colleagues, is to evoke among the young the desire for the act of faith.”

At the center of this act of faith, he said, is the knowledge that “the truths of faith and reason never contradict one another.” This balance between faith and reason served as a central theme of the Holy Father’s address, which he directed toward societies where “secularist ideology drives a wedge between truth and faith.”

The pope emphasized the crucial role of educational institutions in the Church’s primary mission of evangelization. He also made several appeals toward continued outreach by Catholic educators in inner cities and poorer areas — a petition that prompted a burst of applause from the audience — “where there are many hollow promises which lure young people away from the path of truth and genuine freedom.”

Full text of Remarks by Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic University of America

Coverage

• Catholic University students are praying throughout the night in adoration for the pope’s visit to the university tomorrow. The Pope at CUA has video.

• 3,000 CUA students "rock the Pope" (CUA Public Affairs April 17, 2008):

  Beginning at 10 a.m., the students began gathering on the grass to watch a live broadcast of the pope’s Washington, D.C., Mass at Nationals Park on a 23-foot-wide JumboTron, mingle with friends and eagerly await the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI.

  The students, many wearing sports jerseys emblazoned with the name Benedict and the number 16, took part in a seven-hour papal pep rally as they waited for the pontiff’s arrival at 5 p.m.

  In addition to the screening of the papal Mass at Nationals Park, the day also included several organized and impromptu activities accompanied by both prayer and rock music. ...

  At just before 5 p.m. the rumble of motorcycles could be heard and students crowded to barriers along the edge of the lawn, eager to see the pope. A cheer went up as the motorcade arrived. The cheers grew louder as the Holy Father emerged from a limousine and students waved Vatican flags beneath trees that had budded yellow just the day before.

  Students chanted “Benedict! Benedict!” as the pontiff walked up the stairs to the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center. At the top of the steps, Benedict, wearing white robes, turned and faced the students. Students cheered and continued to shout his name.

• New York Times' Colleen Carroll Campbell calls it a "A Catholic Identity Overhaul":

  Any Catholic college or university presidents bracing for a scolding from Pope Benedict probably breathed a sigh of relief after hearing his remarks at the Catholic University of America today. Benedict made no mention of pro-choice commencement speakers or performances of “The Vagina Monologues.” He said that a school’s Catholic identity “is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students” and cannot “be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content” — remarks that surely came as good news to leaders of the many Catholic schools that fall short on both counts.

  Yet the pope’s decision to avoid a nuts-and-bolts discussion of the controversies dominating headlines in Catholic higher education should not be construed as a confirmation of the status quo. In his speech, Benedict called for nothing less than a fundamental shift in the way Catholic educators view their mission and serve their students. ...

• Quotable Benedict: On Academic Freedom, and Heterodox Teaching, by Thomas Peters (American Papist):

  "In Pope Benedict's address to Catholic educators delivered yesterday, he succintly framed the questions about (and implied the answers to) some basic issues which seem to continually escape the erudite academic community here in the United States. In the grand spirit of recent academic scholarship, let me provide some Cliffs Notes ...

Thomas Hibbs on 'Benedict and the Universities"

Benedict and the Universities: Can we recapture the essence of Catholic higher education? (National Review April 16, 2008) - Thomas S. Hibbs, dean of the Honors College at Baylor University, writes in anticipation of Benedict's address to Catholic educators:

Some will say that there are many ways in which such universities can be Catholic apart from hiring Catholics to teach. That is not so clear, however; the trend is toward a contraction of the broad scope and the rich tradition of Catholic liberal education to issues of social justice and service, issues to which secular schools can be equally devoted. In addition to contraction, there is marginalization, as the Catholic elements are relegated to campus ministry or specialized Catholic centers, sometimes even centers for Catholic Studies. But a state university open to the serious study of religion could, according to these criteria, be equally “Catholic.”

Given these tendencies, what should the pope say to American Catholic colleges and universities? And what kind of impact, if any, will his words have?

NY Catholic Teachers Union: Strike may happen during Papal Visit

Associated Press reports on the possibility of a strike by the New York Catholic Teachers Union during the papal visit:

NEW YORK (AP) — Lay teachers at 10 Roman Catholic high schools are poised to strike during Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit to the city after their latest round of contract negotiations stalled, a union official said.

"We didn't want this to happen, but it looks like this is going to happen," Lay Faculty Association spokesman Henry Kielkucki said after union and Archdiocese of New York representatives met Thursday. Kielkucki said the two sides remained at odds over health care and other issues, and no further meetings were scheduled.

A spokesman for the archdiocese did not immediately return telephone calls to his office and home Thursday night.

I'm not denying that they have legitimate grievances (according to the article, "Catholic school teachers earn an average of $45,000 a year, about 30 percent less than their public-school colleagues") or that the New York Archdiocese is facing something of an educational crisis ("Facing budget constraints, the archdiocese has shuttered more than a dozen schools over the last four years. It plans to close six more this year") -- but if the specific intent is to draw public attention to yourself, you might do better than striking during a time when the eyes of the nation and the world will be on the Pope.

NY Catholic school teachers vote on whether to strike during Papal Visit

Catholic school teachers will vote Tuesday on the possibility of a strike the week Pope Benedict XVI visits New York, reports Lindsay Suchow Poughkeepsie Journal (March 31, 2008):

Teachers at 10 Archdiocesan high schools, including Our Lady of Lourdes in Poughkeepsie, may walk out of their classes before and during the pope’s April 18 to 20 visit.

“This, in no way, is a protest against the Holy Father, but rather it is designed to let the Catholic community know that we have a problem in New York — that being we have a cardinal who does not care about Catholic education,” Henry Kielkucki, business manager of the Lay Faculty Association, said in a prepared statement.

Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the Archdiocese of New York, said a strike would be pointless.

“It would be a terrible thing if they did (strike),” Zwilling said. “They’ll lose more money, they’ll disrupt the education of their students and not in any way advance their cause.”

According to the Times Herald Record, the teachers have been without a contract since September and an independent mediator failed to bridge the gap between them:

Association president John Fedor, a science teacher at Burke, says he expects his members to vote to walk out. . . .

Fedor says member won't do anything to actively interrupt the papal visit, but the strike's timing has a purpose.

"We are looking to embarrass the archdiocese," Fedor said. "They deserve to be embarrassed."

Update!

• Teacher strike may embarrass archdiocese LoHud.com / Journal-News:

  union of Catholic school teachers decided last night to go on strike, a move that may continue during Pope Benedict XVI's New York visit to publicize its contract dispute with the Archdiocese of New York.

  "Oh, they'll vote to strike," said Henry Kielkucki, business manager of the Lay Faculty Association, which represents about 430 teachers at 10 high schools from Staten Island to Poughkeepsie. "It's unfortunate it's gone this far." Advertisement

  The vote came in at 132-20 in favor of striking.

CUA President: Pope Presents "A Challenge to be Authentic and Faithful"

Not everybody agrees with the speculation that Benedict XVI will take the opportunity to "deliver a stern message" to Catholic colleges during his visit (see: Catholic Schools Expecting a Fatherly Rebuke? March 14, 2008); -- David M. O'Connell, President of the Catholic University of America responds to the Washington Post editorial:

I could not disagree more with those who predict a "stern message" and a "rebuke" when Pope Benedict XVI addresses Catholic university and college presidents and diocesan education leaders at Catholic University on April 17. The fact that the pope, as teacher of the faith, takes on the compromises advanced within contemporary culture, pushes hard against moral relativism, and seeks to present the intelligibility of the alliance between faith and reason in the quest for truth does not constitute an attack on the Catholic academy. They are the very things that Catholic universities and colleges, too, should be considering, precisely because they are Catholic.

The pope is presenting a challenge to all of us in Catholic higher education to be authentic and faithful to what we say we are and what we say we do. No one should fear such a challenge or paint the call to authenticity as some sort of public reprimand. It is the pope's role and responsibility to lift up Catholic principles as goals to be achieved and as elements of truth, identity and mission for all institutions within the church.

Positive messages do not often make headlines. Controversies -- real or imagined -- do. The suggestion that the pope is coming to the United States with a hammer for Catholic educational leaders is not only premature but also prejudicial. Instead of condemning Catholic universities and colleges for what may be perceived as failures -- and failures do exist -- the pope might very well thank Catholic educational institutions for being beacons of light in a society that sometimes prefers darkness.

Speculating on the Pope's address to Catholic educators

Carol Zimmerman reports on Benedict's planned April 17 one-hour address on Catholic education to the administrators and faculty of Catholic colleges, universities and schools across the nation:

In 1999, the U.S. bishops approved a document specifying how they would implement [John Paul II's] "Ex Corde Ecclesiae" and, specifically, how they would define the "mandatum" -- or church authorization granted by the local bishop to teach theology. The document was confirmed by the Vatican in 2000.

"Much of the heat has dissipated" on "Ex Corde Ecclesiae," said Richard Yanikoski, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Washington.

He speculated that Pope Benedict might "reiterate the central thesis" of the document but with an emphasis on progress made by colleges and the growing secular changes they face. Yanikoski noted that campuses today are not the same as they were 20 years ago, because they focus on global issues and international students make up a larger percentage of the student body.

He said the fact that the pope is not planning to address parish religious educators in this gathering might indicate that he means to narrow his focus solely on the "positive contributions" Catholic schools makes to the church and society.

Yanikoski noted that the pope's address is scheduled for television broadcast, and said that suggests the pope "has a larger audience in mind" and will most likely give a "positive, inclusive statement."

He said Catholic college presidents have expressed regret they will not have an opportunity for dialogue with the pope, but they also understand the pontiff's tight schedule during his U.S. visit.